WEST POINT — The end of August will see the start of the 34th season for the New Horizon Theatre and the first production to kick everything off will be a children’s musical production of “Sleeping Beauty.”

The play will be under the direction of New Horizon veteran Noelle Reed.

“I got involved back in 2012 and have been with them ever since,” she said.

The idea to put on “Sleeping Beauty” came out of a desire to move away from teen-centric productions.

“We wanted to do something for the little kids,” she said. “Something for them to learn to be a part of the theatre. We’ve done so many teen shows, it’s neat to have new kids come in.”

In recent years, New Horizon has put on musicals, including “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Music Man.” Last year they presented “High School Musical.”

“It was amazing and intense,” Reed said.

“Sleeping Beauty” will be a 30 minute production with 14 songs and will be performed by a cast of approximately 23 children, ranging in age from 5 to 12.

“The play originally only had 19 or so parts,” Reed said, adding that they were able to make room for everyone, who have had a wonderful time working on it, including the stage crew.

Reed added that the performers have become very invested in the last battle between Prince Phillip and Maleficent and her goons.

“Everyone crowds around and has a great time,” she said. 

Outside of getting the cast prepared, Reed and the rest of the crew have been working on the sets.

“When deciding to build the set, we didn’t want to make it overly complicated,” she said, noting they took inspiration from Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland. “We wanted to match the colors. Right now, it looks like a Barbie Dreamhouse.”

The current season of New Horizon Theatre productions begins with “Sleeping Beauty,” which will be shown on Aug. 23-25 at 8 p.m. nightly and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25.

The next production will be “The Curious Savage” in October, followed by “Dashing Through the Snow” in December, “The Outsiders” in February and “The Addams Family” in May.

For more information, New Horizon can be reached at 706-643-7529. For tickets, call 706-518-623 or email newhorizontickets@gmail.com.